Surfers at Dillon Beach uninjured after close call

Two surfers made it back to safety uninjured, one with the help of the Coast Guard, after a close call off Dillon Beach Saturday afternoon, a spokesman said.

"At 2:37 p.m., the Coast Guard received a call of two surfers in distress off Dillon Beach," said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. j.g. Josh Dykman. "We dispatched one of our 47-foot motor lifeboats to the beach."

While the lifeboat was on the way, one of the surfers managed to get back to shore, Dykman said. The Coast Guard successfully rescued the other surfer and the lifeboat was on its way to the agency's Bodega Bay station to drop the surfer off around 3:30 p.m., Dykman said.

Neither of the surfers was injured, the spokesman said. He did not have the names or other details of the surfers.

On Friday, officials had warned beachgoers to be cautious on the beaches this weekend, predicting large waves pounding the coastline beginning Saturday.

A storm that slammed into Japan's coast earlier in the week generated hurricane-force winds that stirred up the Pacific Ocean, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service issued a high-surf advisory in effect from 10 a.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday.

"The high surf is always something to be careful of," Logan Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist with the weather service, said Friday. Johnson said so-called "sneaker" waves that are unexpectedly high can knock someone on the shore off their feet and drag them into the ocean.

On New Year's Day, a sneaker wave claimed the life of Richmond resident Charles Quaid, 59, as he strolled with his wife and dog at North Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. Four days earlier, on Dec. 28, a wave swept 9-year-old Juan Carlos Escamillo-Monroy of San Francisco into San Francisco Bay as he fished in the Marin Headlands; his father, 37-year-old Juan Escamillo-Rojas, died trying to save him.

Beachgoers are urged to be careful and not turn their backs on the ocean.